The Ghost of the Forest
by Meredith T. Tasaki
Summary: (PG for the shadows) A Nurse Joy, out in the middle of nowhere, meets Ash, Misty, and Brock...and picks the wrong person to tell about the strange happenings in the forest nearby...


Ghost of the Forest

Author's Note: I don't own Pokemon. ^^; Forgive me for writing a dark fic. After the last two insane ones I wrote, this is a good change... Or a bad one...

~

I should have known.

That's all I can think, I should have known, I should have guessed, I should have tried, I should have, I should, I should...

They came into my Pokecenter. My little Pokecenter in the middle of nowhere. I was so happy to see people again. Chansey's nice, but still, it is good to actually have _people_ around.

So--with, I have to say, some melodramatics--they collapsed and started moaning about food. I laughed a bit, and asked Chansey to get them some food from storage, because I didn't want them dying in my Pokemon Center.

So eventually, they were coherent again, and the tall one started waxing a bit romantic... Then the girl pulled him away by the ear. It was quite funny.

I looked them over, and suddenly I recognized them as the trio I'd heard about from almost all of my family. So we stared talking.

I shouldn't have told him. I shouldn't. From what I'd heard about him from all my sisters, and my cousins, and my aunts and my nieces and from _everybody_! Why didn't I see sooner?! Why? Why didn't I--

Hush, Joy, you know where those thoughts lead. I can't just lose it. Can't... Or can I? I could...

But I told him. What's done is done. Or so they say.

I told him about the phantom that was haunting the forest. I shouldn't have. But I did. I told him how it was hurting Pokemon, which was the _stupidest_ thing I have ever done in my life. No, the _stupidest_ thing I did was telling him about the Pokemon I'd found in the forest; the bloody Caterpie, the still-moaning Hoothoot, and the Pikachu with its neck broken at the bottom of the trench...

I needed to tell someone, but why _him_?

The look on his and his Pikachu's faces was horrible, and that's the first time I realized how _stupid_ I had been. How utterly stupid.

I tried comforting him, I even tried telling him it was a joke, but it was too late; the kid was in shock. His friends decided to let him be, and we talked for quite a while about their adventures.

I caught a glance of him as I was going to bed. The shock was gone, and I was happy...But there was a determination there, in his eyes, that almost scared me more. I didn't know why. Now I do. How could I have done this?!

I take it back... the most completely, utterly, infinitely stupid thing I did was to leave the window open. That was, simply pathetic. But I suppose even I am innocent. Surely the children wouldn't have given it a second thought, either. So many things I can see now... Is this growing up? Were we not grown up before? God above, I hope not. Better we all remain children.

I can only imagine what happened next. I imagine one of them peeked in to wake me up, maybe the tall one. Then, he ran and announced that I was gone... And the boy's eyes went dark, and at some point, he sneaked out of the Pokemon Center to find me, him and his Pikachu.

It was the ghost of the first Team Rocket leader.

She said she died here, left by her minions, realizing too late that there is no honor among thieves. That's what she told me as she paced through the clearing, as I was tied to a tree, looking helplessly at the knife she somehow held in her hands.

And then... 

He, he leaped into the clearing, bright, brave, and almost immortal. The youngest knight ever to walk the earth. I truly believed all the stories I had heard at that moment; I believed he saved Erika's Gloom, he brought Sabrina's soul back, he saved the Pokemon, he saved the world...

For now it appeared he was saving me.

"I dunno what you are, but I know that you're hurting Pokemon!" he yelled. "And I'm not gonna let you do anything else to hurt people, you hear me? I'm not!"

"Pika!" his Pikachu said, sparking.

She--if that term applied anymore--laughed, the scariest sound I have ever heard. "Really. How entertaining. Go ahead, make your move. I'll let you have the first shot..."

He gritted his teeth. "Yaah!" he yelled, launching himself at her as his Pikachu gathered a truly large amount of electricity.

He went right through her and hit the ground, but with a startling grace, he swirled back up.

"Pi--ka--chuuu!" his Pikachu yelled, throwing the electricity at the ghost, who just laughed.

Ash threw some more punches as the ghost laughed, not even needing to dodge, but one accidentally hit her hand, and she gasped.

"You impertinent fool!" she screeched, raising her knife. "You shall pay for that!"

He backed up, along with his Pikachu, with a sudden slight look of confusion, then confidence.

Oh God, he wasn't afraid... That's what it was... He was wondering if he should be afraid and deciding not to be... Oh-oh-oh Looorrrrdd... Why...

And she slashed.

I winced, not bearing to see it, but when I opened my eyes, there was a cut, up-and-down, on both sides of his face. He gasped and held his hand up to one, staring at her.

"Bad memories, eh?" she said, smiling like she was the devil himself--I think she was, I really do. "Been cut before? By someone you know? Knew?"

"Shut up," he growled at her.

She was slowly backing him against a tree. "Got any--scars?" she said, slashing at his hand. I gasped as the glove fell off and old scars showed on the back of his hand. Five, less deep new cuts had appeared where she had cut the glove off.

He was backed against the tree now, still showing no fear.

"Well, it's time you get some new ones..."

Flashes of the knife.

I couldn't bear to look.

"PIKAPI!" the Pikachu yelled. I looked over just quickly enough to see it attack. I heard the knife cut the air and it cried in pain.

"Pikachu!" the boy yelled.

I couldn't help it; I looked. There was blood on the ground, not too much, but enough to be afraid of. The boy was kneeling, his Pikachu in his arms.

That Pikachu and him... It was almost like, they _were_ each other, almost. It was something unexplainable... They were different people, but irrevocably tied to each other, and neither would ever leave the other behind. I had noticed something odd about them before, but it was nothing compared to what I saw now. They were...Magic...Embodied... Or were they?... Lord...

"You do know you're going to die today, don't you?" she whispered.

He looked up at her, trying to keep his chin steady, and said nothing.

And that was when it truly began. The struggling and blood and fighting and yells and-- God, I couldn't watch, I just couldn't. And it was horrible--I just knew it was all my fault, this boy was getting hurt and it was all because of me... I remember thinking, Oh my God, what have I done?

And then, quiet.

I looked up, opening my eyes for the first time in, I don't know how long.

And I moaned.

The boy, Ash, the angel, was on his knees, Pikachu still in his arms, a small smile on his face. Blood... Blood was everywhere, a lot of it. Too much.

They were both bleeding, both... dying... Glorious Heaven... And I heard the Pikachu whisper,

"Pikapi, pikachu pika."

I know a little Pokemon, and can understand just enough to go by. But I heard those words perfectly: 'Ash, I'll never leave you.'

He smiled. "Me neither."

And he fell backwards.

I just stared at him for a long time. Even in...death... he held his Pikachu in his arms. They both... lay there, all covered with blood, smiling like angels, eternally happy, serene, just feeling blessed that they had had the time they had, and that they had known each other, and that they were together, and God...

I think that's when I started to cry.

And then I heard the cry of a bird.

A glowing, golden bird flew into the clearing, crying in anguish. It attacked the ghost and she disappeared, back to hell, I am sure. No one who---_could_---did---and---could go to heaven.

The bird landed, crying, its tears falling onto them. The ropes binding me to the tree simply disappeared, and I staggered over to the bird, dropping to my knees, my tears falling with its.

~I should've come here sooner...~ it cries. ~I should've stopped him, I should've stopped her...~

I hung onto the golden creature's neck, sobbing, as we both thought exactly the same thing. Should've...

The cavalry chose that time to arrive; they always have the worst timing... It was the girl, the tall guy, and an Officer Jenny. They stopped, stock-still, as they took in the sight: the blood, everywhere; the crying nurse, on her knees; the sobbing bird, golden, impossible; the angels on the ground, somehow dead.

"Oh God," one of them whispered, I don't know which; it might have been all of them. They all fell to their knees as well. The girl was in complete shock; the others were crying...

How could I have been--so--STUPID?!

And, I suppose, that's what I'll tell Jenny, when she asks what happened... Hardened as she is, she still hasn't gathered herself together enough to speak...

They must've ran to find a Jenny... And it took them too long.... So now they'll just wonder, forever, what would've happened if they'd gone a little faster, or simply skipped Jenny and started looking...I know it would've been useless, but they never will... So we're all left with should'ves... That's just the way it is...

My God...

I wonder... What's the punishment for indirectly killing angels?...

I think I already know.

It's the _should_....

~


End file.
